Cesare

-il CesareSole Absolute Triple
Exalted High Tastemaster Supreme
“In the entire world there are only a few sounds that bring joy to all but the most jaded. One is the murmur of a kitten purring. Another is the thwack of a well-pitched baseball hitting a perfectly swung bat. And the third is the pop of a cork being pulled from a bottle of wine.” —George Taber

rjquillin

Got this back during the May woot, but due to buggy circumstances was unable to report results at the time.

Six months later I've got quite a few loaves expanding my belt, and have brought them to a couple of gatherings for others to sample as well.

Great idea, and excellent implementation. This has all you need and the book absolutely makes it dirt simple with clear instructions and photographs. We do about a loaf a week now, sometimes two at the same time using another cast iron pot to cook in.

Have thoroughly enjoyed baking bread with this and the results are much better than with the bread machine now gathering dust.

Here's a pic of what's left of the second loaf from SoCal25
And I found a before shot as well.
One loaf was rosemary and asiago cheese, I think the other was the reference standard.

jalopatin

I've been making bread in my le crueset for a few years now and have been getting pretty impressive results. if this is in any way similar, I highly recommend. new york times has an awesome no-knead bread recipe for anyone interested.

a little fresh rosemary and black pepper in there isn't a bad addition

broderya

Frugal Living also has a great no knead recipe. You're pretty much paying for the cast iron pot in this deal as the contents seem a bit overly-complex for essentially four ingredients. Still, a fun gift and it's really easy to make.

philistine

I also bought this in May and use it every week to make fabulous bread. My first attempt came out exactly like the picture on the kit, which is a great achievement for a first bake.

You can buy the pot, ingredients seperately but that's not the point. What you're getting is all the expertise and short cuts as the method in the Average Joe kit is adapted from the NYT method. All of this is condensed in the book and the quick guide in the kit, along with other bread recipe ideas.

If you want a quick and easy way to make bread this kit is a 'fast track' way to get you there with enough ingredients to make 3 loaves. After this you then have the background knowledge to 'go independant' If you want to do all the legwork then, of course, you can do all the research and shopping for ingredients and equipment without it.

If you put value on having the fool proof methodology and kit condensed together then it's a great solution. It would make a great Christmas gift for the right person - it gives you 3 loaves of bread along with the knowledge and skills to continue baking your own wonderful bread. Without this kit I wouldn't have bothered with bread making, now we won't eat the crap you get from the grocery store! Thanks to Average Joe....

chipgreen

Bione

broderya wrote:Frugal Living also has a great no knead recipe. You're pretty much paying for the cast iron pot in this deal as the contents seem a bit overly-complex for essentially four ingredients. Still, a fun gift and it's really easy to make.

Couldn't agree more. Even at this price, it's pretty over-priced for a stock pot, a scraper (if you need one, you're kneading wrong!), some salt, and some "bread dust."

I'd buy as a gift (and only because I didn't order enough Adequate Gift), but never for myself. Then again, I made bread every week for 10 years without the aid of a fancy kit, so I'm probably not their target market...

I definitely agree with the olive/rosemary suggestion. Sundried tomatoes and dried oregano/basil also works well. For a sweeter bread, I like to mix in floured frozen raspberries and dark chocolate chips with just a touch of sugar and butter. At this time of year, dried cranberries, pecans, and some orange zest really hits the spot.

fogtower

craigthom wrote:And you can get a six quart Lodge enameled cast iron Dutch oven for about $50 at Target, which will be a lot more useful for other things. The ingredients for making bread are very inexpensive.

Yes, buy a lodge or other heavy cast iron pot which is better and get higher quality ingredients like King Aurthur bread flour, etc.

mom2hapakids

I've been doing Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and I use a plastic Tupperware type container ($1 at the Dollar Store). It just takes regular flour, water, yeast, and salt for the basic recipe (check out their website for the recipe). The basic recipe makes 4 loaves. It takes 5 active minutes but time for the loaves to rise and bake. You can keep the dough in the fridge all week and make a loaf for dinner or sandwiches the next day with a little planning. All you need is a spoon. Mix it in the container, let it rise, then put in the fridge. When I want bread, I take out a portion (1/4 to 1/3 of the dough). Plop it in a loaf pan or onto parchment paper. Let sit for about 45 minutes, then bake for about 35 minutes. Done!

alecpm

That NYT recipe is a great place to start. The baker/author also wrote a very good book on the subject. All the breads and variations in it are no-knead long rise recipes. It's a pretty entertaining read as well.

As others indicate, a cast iron dutch oven is going to be a better choice than the enameled steel pot in this kit, and is really all you need to get started.

jalopatin wrote:I've been making bread in my le crueset for a few years now and have been getting pretty impressive results. if this is in any way similar, I highly recommend. new york times has an awesome no-knead bread recipe for anyone interested.

a little fresh rosemary and black pepper in there isn't a bad addition

dalylink

Just a question for those who bought this set before: how crusty does the bread come out? We've cooked bread in a cast iron dutch oven and the bread's crust was awesome. I'm just wondering if that will happen with a lighter (enameled steel) pot.

sulakdd

Breadkit.com, the webpage for this product, sells this bundle for $59. (Refills are available for $15 for those interested). The Wine.Woot page lists this as a 34% discount. Woot uses $68 as the product price - presumably, Woot is representing that breadkit.com charges $9 for shipping. To be a fair comparison, Woot's shipping cost must be included too - so Woot's price is $49.99 ($44.99 + $5 shipping). That's a 26% discount, not the 34% advertised by Woot. (I still might buy one, but people should not be misled).

polarbear22

dalylink wrote:Just a question for those who bought this set before: how crusty does the bread come out? We've cooked bread in a cast iron dutch oven and the bread's crust was awesome. I'm just wondering if that will happen with a lighter (enameled steel) pot.

Yes it did. Never tried this in a heavier pot, so can't make a comparison. but it was a nice crunchy crust.

North316

sulakdd wrote:Breadkit.com, the webpage for this product, sells this bundle for $59. (Refills are available for $15 for those interested). The Wine.Woot page lists this as a 34% discount. Woot uses $68 as the product price - presumably, Woot is representing that breadkit.com charges $9 for shipping. To be a fair comparison, Woot's shipping cost must be included too - so Woot's price is $49.99 ($44.99 + $5 shipping). That's a 26% discount, not the 34% advertised by Woot. (I still might buy one, but people should not be misled).

Almost correst. Woot's retail price = MSRP + Shipping - Woot Shipping price. So all of your facts are correction with the exception that the average retail shipping charge would be $14, not $9. Whether that is true or not, I have no idea.

rjquillin

dalylink wrote:Just a question for those who bought this set before: how crusty does the bread come out? We've cooked bread in a cast iron dutch oven and the bread's crust was awesome. I'm just wondering if that will happen with a lighter (enameled steel) pot.

We've cooked two loaves in parallel, one in this enameled pot and the other in a cast iron; both were similar, the iron being just a bit more even, but not significantly so.

chipgreen

blueconversechucks

Hey I like this idea, not to buy this overpriced package, but rather to do on my own. Is there a name for this type of bread, that one bakes in a large pot, for me to google recipes? Do you bake it on the stove, or in the oven? Thanks, all! (Sorry, didn't have time to scan through everything right now, but I will when I start this kind of baking!)

rjquillin

sphervey

blueconversechucks wrote:Hey I like this idea, not to buy this overpriced package, but rather to do on my own. Is there a name for this type of bread, that one bakes in a large pot, for me to google recipes? Do you bake it on the stove, or in the oven? Thanks, all! (Sorry, didn't have time to scan through everything right now, but I will when I start this kind of baking!)

Just look up No Knead Bread. A plethora of recipes will show. Very easy and very delicious. You mix flour, salt, yeast and water - cover and let it sit overnight then bake in a pot, lodge cast iron is very good, for 30 minutes then uncover the lasty 10 and you have delicious bread.

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